Although I have no time for the squirrels that eat my tulip bulbs and magnolia buds, I admit that I thought these little guys were sort of cute when I encountered them on the trail in another province altogether. If familiarity breeds contempt, maybe distance breeds tolerance.
Of course, I didn’t plant the trees whose buds they were cutely chewing through, chowing down, and spitting out.
I continue to be amazed at what close-ups reveal that I can’t see or don’t notice in the field: in this case, the long, hairy, and sharply clawed fingers and toes of this rodent.
